These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of Connect Merge (the “App”, “Service”), a daily spatial merge puzzle game published by Corey Hilsenbeck (“we”, “us”, “our”). By downloading, installing, or using the App, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the App.
If you are using the App on behalf of a minor, see Section 4 (Eligibility and Age Requirements).
Connect Merge generates one puzzle board per calendar day (UTC) per difficulty tier, deterministically derived from the date and difficulty. All players who play a given day's board on a given difficulty are playing the identical board, so scores are directly comparable. The App can be played fully offline; some features described below require a network connection and an account.
We may add, change, suspend, or remove features (including difficulty tiers, scoring rules, cosmetics, leaderboards, or events) at any time. We are not obligated to maintain any particular feature, and daily boards, scoring, and season identifiers may change between “seasons” so that scores computed under different rules are never mixed on the same leaderboard.
Most gameplay works without an account. Optional online features (cloud leaderboards, duels, friends, streak sync) require an account, which is created automatically as an anonymous session — we do not require an email address, phone number, or password to play. You may set a public display name and avatar, which are visible to other players (e.g., on leaderboards and to friends).
You are responsible for:
You may permanently delete your account and associated server-side data from within the App at any time. Deletion is irreversible; see our Privacy Policy for what is retained, if anything, and for how long.
Because every player on a given day and difficulty gets the same board, a finished run is verifiable: the server independently replays your move log against the same rules used to generate the board and only accepts scores that are legitimately achievable. Client-reported scores that fail this replay check are rejected and will not appear on leaderboards.
You agree not to:
Duels are shared via deep links you generate and send yourself (e.g., via a messaging app of your choice); we do not send messages on your behalf. Only the server-verified leaderboard is authoritative — a hand-edited duel link cannot forge a result.
We may void scores, remove leaderboard entries, reset streaks, or suspend or terminate accounts that violate this section, without notice.
The App is not directed at children and is not intended for use by anyone under 13 years old (or the minimum age of digital consent in your country, if higher). If you are between that minimum age and the age of majority in your jurisdiction, you may use the App only with the involvement of a parent or legal guardian who agrees to these Terms on your behalf. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13; if we learn we have, we will delete it.
Adding friends via your device's contacts is entirely optional and opt-in. If you enable it, your contacts' phone numbers/emails are normalized and hashed on your device; only the resulting hashes are sent to our servers to check for matches against other players who have also opted in. Raw contact details never leave your device, and players who have not opted in are not discoverable this way. You may also add friends directly via invite codes or deep links without granting contacts access. See our Privacy Policy for further detail.
The App may award virtual coins and unlockable cosmetic items (e.g., tile-color themes) through gameplay, streaks, daily rewards, achievements, or watching optional rewarded advertisements. Virtual coins and cosmetics:
The App does not currently offer in-app purchases with real money. If that changes, these Terms will be updated and, where required, you will be presented with updated terms before any purchase.
The App may display advertisements, including optional rewarded video ads you can choose to watch in exchange for in-game benefits (e.g., extra moves, hints, undos, or cosmetics), served through third-party advertising networks (including Google AdMob). We also use analytics and crash-reporting services (including Firebase) to understand app stability and usage. These third parties operate under their own terms and privacy policies, which we encourage you to review. See our Privacy Policy for details on what data is shared with these services.
The App may send local, on-device reminder notifications (e.g., a daily play reminder). These are generated on your device and are not sent through a push-notification server. You can disable them at any time in your device settings or in-app.
The App, including its game design, rules, artwork, code, and branding, is owned by us or our licensors and is protected by intellectual property laws. Subject to your compliance with these Terms, we grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to install and use the App on devices you own or control, for your own personal, non-commercial entertainment.
You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, lease, reverse-engineer, or create derivative works from the App except to the extent applicable law expressly permits, or extract or redistribute daily board data, seeds, or leaderboard data at scale (e.g., through scraping or automated access) without our prior written consent.
Your display name, avatar selection, and any other content you submit remain yours, but by submitting them you grant us a worldwide, royalty-free license to display them within the App (e.g., on leaderboards, to friends, in duels) for as long as your account exists.
In addition to Section 3, you agree not to:
The App relies on third-party infrastructure (including Supabase for backend services and Google for advertising, analytics, and crash reporting). We are not responsible for the availability, content, or practices of third-party services, and your use of any third-party service integrated into the App may be subject to that provider's own terms.
THE APP IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE,” WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR THAT THE APP WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE. OFFLINE PLAY DEPENDS ON YOUR DEVICE; ONLINE FEATURES (LEADERBOARDS, DUELS, FRIENDS, SYNC) DEPEND ON THIRD-PARTY SERVICES WE DO NOT CONTROL AND MAY BE UNAVAILABLE FROM TIME TO TIME.
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE AND OUR OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF DATA, GOODWILL, OR VIRTUAL ITEMS, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE APP, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF THESE TERMS OR THE APP WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM AROSE, OR (B) USD $20. NOTHING IN THESE TERMS LIMITS ANY LIABILITY THAT CANNOT BE LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.
You may stop using the App and delete your account at any time (Section 2). We may suspend or terminate your access to online features, or your account, at any time if we believe you have violated these Terms, engaged in cheating or abusive conduct, or for operational or legal reasons. Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including Sections 6, 9, 12, 13, 15, and 16) will survive.
We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update the “Effective date” above and, where appropriate, provide notice in the App. Continued use of the App after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, USA (Sacramento County), without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the App will be resolved in the courts located in Sacramento, California, and you consent to their jurisdiction, except where applicable law requires otherwise.
Our collection and use of information in connection with the App is described in our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference.
Questions about these Terms can be sent to [email protected].